April 2023 Program Information
April 2023 Program
Larry Kersten gave us a very interesting program and showed lots of samples from his many trips across the country. He and his wife Sandy travel to visit relatives, to go camping, and to collect materials. He focused on several of his many trips to THE WORLD FAMOUS mineral show in Tucson, AZ.He sometimes stays in Quartzite at a campground. The town normally has a population of 4000, but during January it can grow to 100,000. The campgrounds go for miles and one is around 11,000 acres. That's a lot of RVs! There are 60 RV parks. Some vendors live there from December to April, some of whom rent spaces in a warehouse all year long, and sell things for several months. Nearby towns, such as Parker, AZ and Blythe, CA have motels to rent. (Remember, this is a desert area with sometimes 80 to 100 miles between towns.) An RV show is annually held in a 69,000 sq ft tent. Larry once spent 45 minutes on an entry ramp to the area!!
Larry not only visits the show areas, but enjoys taking side trips to collect materials. The Quartzite Roadrunner Gem & Mineral Club offers these trips. You provide your own transportation, collecting gear, food, etc. Each trip is very specific & there's a brochure that describes each trip. Trips are labeled by difficulty of
(1) road leading to site (paved to ruts to dangerous cliffs) Also whether cars, high clearance vehicles or 4-wheel drive is needed.
(2) terrain from 1 to 4 based on type of terrain (flat to slippery slopes to physically exhausting)
(3) extraction of material (from loose tailings to hand tools to heavy hammering).
There is a list of collecting material at each site (rhyolite, epidote, marble, etc) Location is given as well as total miles to drive (8 to 170). Daily collection limit is 25 lbs per day or 250 lbs per year. We are SO glad that Larry has gone to many of these and brought back samples for us to see!!!
Larry talked about the new venue in Tucson called "The Mineral City Show". This is an area of 7 warehouses that have permanent vendors that had been planned and has evolved since 2018. Each warehouse has from 14 to 25+ vendors. Larry was there for 10 days and only saw about 1/3 of the vendors. There are vendors for almost everything anyone would want to purchase - minerals (to enter the wholesale section, a permit/tax ID must be shown), fossils, rocks, gems, jewelry, equipment, & more.
Thank you, Larry, for showing off some of your valuables! Porcelain jasper, Chipboard rhyolite, fish fossils, Picasso marble, Thunder eggs (Houser geodes), Quartz, & fluorite. Some of the states he collected from were WA, OR, AZ, UT, AR, AK, NV. He had a piece of Actinolite that he bought at the show - it came from Luckstone Quarry in Centerville, VA from the 1970s!!! (So, you can go to Tucson & buy VA minerals!)
This program was very informative for those that may wish to go to Tucson, or have been before. Larry closed with a mention of a memorable sign at a site - "Please buy Rocks & save John's marriage!" May be good advice!